by SAMINA WAHID PIROZANI
Then there is the black comedy “Dr Strangelove”, Kubrick’s interpretation of what can happen if all the so-called sensible, grounded people in the Pentagon one day decide to go ahead with a nuclear attack on the (former) Soviet Union. Kubrick, by turns, takes jabs at the prevailing mindset back then: the ‘red conspiracy’ that is ‘flouridating’ the water to pollute our bodily fluids, the absolute ineptitude and foolishness that military men are capable of and finally how wisdom and good sense can get lost in translation.
Perhaps the funniest character of the movie is the mad but clever German scientist Dr Strangelove (played by Peter Sellars, also playing the role of the US president and military commander Captain Mandrake) who explains the implications of a nuclear holocaust and possesses a hand that has a mind of it own (Nazi salutes and all). Even though “Dr Strangelove” was made quite early on during the Cold War, it is a compelling critique of the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and their fury if unleashed upon us by extremist generals and elected government representatives.
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